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  Advocates Differ on How Best To Cultivate Policy

Posted by CN Staff on January 14, 2010 at 08:03:34 PT
By John Ingold, The Denver Post 
Source: Denver Post 

Colorado -- Three months ago, Laura Kriho stood before a roomful of fellow medical-marijuana advocates and urged them to get involved with the political process to create regulations for the state's legal-marijuana industry."I know our standards are way higher than the government's standards," she said then. Now, as the medical-marijuana community prepares for a rally today that it hopes will grab the attention of state lawmakers, Kriho is among a number of cannabis advocates who have soured on what the community can accomplish by working with politicians.
Frustrated by what she says are overly harsh regulatory proposals from state and local governments and believing the marijuana community's input has largely been ignored, Kriho said she is increasingly inclined to bypass policymakers altogether and instead use ballot initiatives and the courts to bring legal clarity to the state's medical-marijuana policy."There's only a few ways you can control your government," Kriho, of the Cannabis Therapy Institute, said Wednesday. "One of them is through the ballot box. One of them is through the jury box."To be sure, not everyone in the medical-marijuana community has given up on politicians.Brian Vicente, executive director of the group Sensible Colorado, said his group is still talking with lawmakers about fighting back a proposal that would effectively outlaw retail marijuana dispensaries and instead introducing a bill the cannabis community could support."I think there is political will to push sensible regulation," he said.Matt Brown — executive director of Coloradans for Medical Marijuana Regulation, which has hired a team of lobbyists to represent it at the Capitol this session — said he has found lawmakers surprisingly willing to listen to proposals from the cannabis community. Work With Lawmakers  The change in tone for at least some advocates is pronounced when compared with a few months ago, when the Cannabis Therapy Institute formed a "Medical Cannabis Policy Group" to propose model regulations and members of the marijuana community talked eagerly of working with lawmakers on rules that would give certainty and legitimacy to the nascent industry.Today's rally — scheduled for 11:30 a.m. at Lincoln Park, across the street from the state Capitol — will feature about a dozen speakers urging state lawmakers not to clamp down on access to medical marijuana. But Boulder attorney Jeff Gard said politicians have seemed reluctant to do more than listen. Snipped   Complete Article: http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_14184693Source: Denver Post (CO)Author: John Ingold, The Denver PostPublished: January 14, 2010Copyright: 2010 The Denver Post CorpWebsite: http://www.denverpost.com/Contact: openforum denverpost.comCannabisNews Medical Marijuana Archiveshttp://cannabisnews.com/news/list/medical.shtml 

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Comment #8 posted by Paint with light on January 14, 2010 at 23:37:35 PT

Cheech and Chong
The only problem I ever had with C & C' early years was a lot of America did not realize it was humor and not a documentary on the life of a stoner.It was not necessarily a guide on how to act when stoned.There was a lot of truth underneath the surface which made it even more humorous to those that understood.A lot of lives imitated the art.There were a lot of funny skits.I thought they were also better before the movies.Of course at the same time I was into "Firesign Theater", so I am probably biased.There was something nice about a bunch of friends listening to an album and using their minds to paint the pictures.I wish them luck on their tour.Tommy deserves a break.I don't know which is worse going to jail for possessing a flower or selling art glass.It is ridiculous to call either a crime.Legal like alcohol this decade. 
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Comment #7 posted by The GCW on January 14, 2010 at 22:03:14 PT

GET IT LEGAL
US CO: Cheech and Chong get it legalWebpage: http://www.boulderweekly.com/article-1118-cheech-and-chong-get-it-legal.htmlPubdate: 14 Jan 2009Source: Boulder Weekly (CO)Author: Ben CorbettCheech and Chong get it legalWith a brand new tour, America’s pot comedians mix activism with humor
"It's getting closer all the time,” says Cheech Marin about what he calls the “quasi-legal” state of marijuana use in America. “You can walk down the street of just about any city smoking a joint, and nobody’s gonna hassle you. It’s ridiculous that it’s not legal. Sometimes our country has this puritanical element about it that just pops up like a mutant gene.”“The recreational use of it is what’s kept it illegal for a long time — any excuse to stomp on people’s freedoms,” adds Tommy Chong. “We’re really close to legalization, and I think that everybody concerned, we’ve gotta keep pushing it off the cliff. We got it up to the top, now we just gotta push it over and really get it legal, instead of this don’t-ask-don’t-tell approach.”On the heels of their hugely successful Cheech & Chong: Light Up America reunion tour, and with Chong’s 2003 federal bust, conviction and incarceration for paraphernalia trafficking now fading memories, it’s no surprise that the duo would crank it up a notch in the ongoing battle for legalization. The national laws surrounding pot use are in their death throes, and who more fitting than the iconic comedy team to deliver the coup de grace? The press release for the forthcoming 17-city Cheech & Chong: Get It Legal tour reads, “Cheech and Chong are fusing comedy and activism as a means of bringing attention to the harm caused by marijuana prohibition.” But comedy as activism is nothing new for these American originals, whose major contribution was forging drug humor into a cultural institution.CONT
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Comment #6 posted by ekim on January 14, 2010 at 19:48:59 PT

those who want to lead must tell the truth
ohoh looks like some of ol turkeycarver seeds are sprouten.
with comments number 21#-- and on and on.http://www.michiganmedicalmarijuana.org/node/14690 http://www.michiganmedicalmarijuana.org/node/14708
What are they smoking? That's what Detroit-based Cannabis Counsel lawyer Matthew Abel is
asking of the Michigan Senate Judiciary Committee, who is meeting next
week to discuss a package of bills which would amend the public health
code so that medical marijuana must be dispensed by pharmacists, and
to classify medical marijuana as a schedule 2 controlled substance.

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Comment #5 posted by kaptinemo on January 14, 2010 at 16:33:49 PT:

Laura Kriho is the real deal: a hero
Because she stood up for jury nullification against overwhelming odds...and beat them. As always, as it does anyone who stands up to Leviathan, it cost her...but she kept fighting, anyway, and won out. And because of that, there's a lot of prohibs out her way that tread very softly when it comes to jury trials of drug cases...because there may be a few who still recall what happened almost 15 years ago, and are more than willing to follow her example.
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Comment #4 posted by FoM on January 14, 2010 at 16:19:29 PT

These Threats Aren't From Real MMJ Activists
Tom Massey Receives Death Threats From Medical Pot ActivistsJanuary 14, 2010URL: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/01/14/tom-massey-receives-death_n_423993.html
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Comment #3 posted by Storm Crow on January 14, 2010 at 15:38:21 PT

From Nimbin, Australia
http://www.echonews.com.au/story/2010/01/14/making-medical-cannabis/Making medical cannabisAndy Parks | 14th January 2010It’s hardly groundbreaking news that you can get cannabis in Nimbin, but in a non-descript white van in a Nimbin car park you will find Tony Bower distributing medicinal cannabis to people with chronic health problems.Tony has developed a way of extracting the psychoactive substance THC from the plant and putting it into tinctures that can be taken orally. From his van in Nimbin he is giving it away to people he thinks it will help, as long as they show him a doctor’s certificate confirming their condition.Cannabis has been shown to alleviate the symptoms of pain and nausea for people suffering from HIV and cancer-related wasting, as well as neurological disorders such as multiple sclerosis and motor neurone disease, and a range of other conditions.In Los Angeles there are now more medical cannabis outlets than there are McDonald’s restaurants and since a change in policy by the Obama administration not to use federal laws to override states where medical use of cannabis has been made legal, it is expected that the number of US states allowing its use will jump from 14 to 26 this year. (Snipped) (What a lovely way to end the snip! I just love that last sentence!) And blessings on Mr. Tony Bower!
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Comment #2 posted by FoM on January 14, 2010 at 14:41:07 PT

Updated Denver Post Article
Marijuana Advocates Blast Lawmakers at Denver RallyBy John Ingold, The Denver Post January 14, 2010Marijuana advocates who rallied across the street from the state Capitol today had sharp words for lawmakers considering regulations for Colorado's booming medical-marijuana industry."Keep your grubby hands off of medical marijuana!" activist Robert Chase shouted toward the Capitol.About 200 advocates attended the rally — which was timed to begin once Gov. Bill Ritter finished giving his State of the State speech. Many of the speakers at the rally blasted legislative proposals to strongly regulate or effectively outlaw the state's growing number of retail medical-marijuana dispensaries. A number of speakers urged cannabis advocates to contact elected officials to lobby for their cause — though they often cast the relationship between advocate and lawmaker as an adversarial one."We deserve a seat at that table," prominent medical-marijuana attorney Robert Corry said. "And if they don't give us a seat at that table, well, I've got a flame-thrower we can use to deal with that table."Corry said he would soon be unveiling a "patient-centered" proposal for lawmakers to consider. But Corry said he wasn't eager to see any new regulations adopted, arguing that Colorado's current medical-marijuana policy — which leaves dispensaries largely unregulated — is already protected under the state constitution.Complete Article: http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_14193164
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Comment #1 posted by FoM on January 14, 2010 at 08:46:46 PT

Michigan Medical Marijuana News
Mich. Senate Judiciary Committee Will Consider Laws To Restrict Medical MarijuanaBy Eartha Jane Melzer January 14, 2010 Michigan -- In a move that critics say is an attempt to further his congressional campaign, Republican State Sen. Wayne Kuipers of Holland, has scheduled a hearing on a package of bills that would change the public health code to reclassify medical marijuana as a schedule 2 controlled substance and require that it be dispensed exclusively by pharmacists.The bills appear to conflict with the medical marijuana statute passed by voters in 2008.Under this law the state Department of Community Health issues registration cards to patients with qualified medical conditions and registered medical marijuana users are allowed to grow and possess limited amounts of marijuana for personal use. They may also designate a caregiver to grow the marijuana for them.According to MDCH 13,370 applications have been received since April 6, 2009.“These bills are in fact “dead men walking,” Michigan Medical Marijuana Association Director Greg Francisco wrote in a blog post about the planned hearing, “This is about scoring points w/ the conservative base, the opening salvo of the 2010 election season. Medical marijuana is simply an all too convenient pawn in their political machinations.”Kuipers is running for the congressional seat that will open up when Pete Hoekstra retires from Congress this year. This has been called the safest Republican district in the state.Copyright: 2009 The Michigan MessengerURL: http://michiganmessenger.com/33317/mich-senate-judiciary-committee-will-consider-laws-to-restrict-medical-marijuana
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